BEST PRACTICE EXCHANGE
The European Green Deal sets the course for a successful green transformation in Europe. Even though SME’s are at the heart of Europe’s economy they are above-average challenged by the measures: Additional reporting and disclosure obligations need to be fulfilled with the existing personnel and financial resources.
To support SMEs in Baden-Württemberg, on their way of implementing the green transformation, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism Baden-Württemberg launched the campaign “Fit for the future”. In cooperation with Steinbeis Europa Zentrum/Steinbeis 2i and other partners from the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) in Baden-Württemberg, this campaign was implemented to assist the competitiveness of Baden-Württemberg’s SMEs.
The campaign is split in two parts: a guiding website and an event series.
The website is created for the target group of SMEs in Baden-Württemberg and therefore is written in german. The content gives an overview about legal plans and regulations and measures of the EU concerning the Green Deal, as well as a collection of concrete starting points for the implementation of the measures.
Moreover, the website breaks down these measures for practical use to enable SMEs an uncomplicated start into their transformative change processes. A whole section of the website focuses on contact points for funding or consulting opportunities. Especially useful is the provision of online tools like CO2 computers, energy management systems or green innovation checks. To comprimise, the website works like a guide that leads SMEs to targeted and relevant information in the perceived lack of clarity of the Green Deal.
The main advantage of the website is at first, that all the information can be found in one click without long research hours. Because it includes support and funding contact points from all levels, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and the EU, it follows a holistic approach. This enables to consider regional specialities like financial situations, laws, requirements for support and starting points.
Another advantage is that the website is not a finished project due to the high actuality of the Green Deal. Instead, it is a living document: New measures, information or funding possibilities are added as soon as they arise. This is only possible through good cooperation between the different SME-supporting organisations in Baden-Württemberg: Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, Ministry of Economics, Labour and Tourism and other EEN partners. It is necessary that these organisations share information with each other about new developments and initiatives.
The website is complemented by events that are targeted for SMEs. Some of them take place on site, spread over Baden-Württemberg, some online. Spoken and event language is german, due to the target group of SME’s in Baden-Württemberg.
- 03.23 – Expert forum textile “the planned extended manufacturing responsibility for textiles”
- 15.2023 – Event concerning sustainable tourism
- 05.2023 – Talk at the Bundesgartenschau in Mannheim about the EU taxonomy
- 12.2023 – Event concerning Green Deal and AI
More information about the events is also available on the website: www.greendeal4kmu-bw.de.
The detailed influence of the campaign “fit for the future” on the implementation of the green deal by SMEs cannot be stated already. Nonetheless, positive feedback of some relevant economic and political stakeholders in Baden-Württemberg has already been received. Some stakeholders supported the further development of the website by offering new initiatives to publish them on the website. The click figures showed the high demand of the website content in the first weeks. Additionally an e-mail was installed so that feedback and further questions could be send, which was used frequently already. In the received feedback SMEs evaluated the website and the events positively.
